I sincerely believe that it is far more beneficial and far less costly to help a child build confidence than it is to fix an adult who has little or none.

I’m sure you have heard the quote, “You were born an original, don’t die a copy.” How well are you following this good advice?

Most of us spend our lives trying to be like someone else instead of being the best version of ourselves that we can be. As small children, we look to our parents and want to be just like them when we grow up. When we go to school we look to our friends and other schoolmates, trying to imitate their appearance and behaviours. Then as an adult we see people who are successful and we try to model their lives.

We all want to be loved and accepted but we believe that we don’t have the qualities necessary to succeed, so we try to copy other people. The sad fact is, that the people we admire most have just as many flaws and imperfections as we do, but we don’t see them. We need to realize that we are all unique individuals with special talents and abilities.

Have you been successful in fulfilling your own dreams and reaching your own goals? Or have you just fulfilled someone else’s dreams and reached someone else’s goals? This is certainly not the way to find a happy and rewarding life.

Don’t try to be somebody else. Just be the awesome person you were created to be! Be confident in yourself! Believe in yourself! There is only 1 of you – 1 special you!!! YOU ARE AN ORIGINAL!

People who are depressed do not have good confidence and they have low esteem. Depression doesn’t allow a person to feel good about themselves; instead, it destroys self-confidence. Depression is a great liar. It poisons our minds with the idea that we have no value, nobody likes us and our life doesn’t matter. We doubt our abilities, we can’t see our great characteristics and we can’t use our skills. We are critical about everything we do and don’t believe that we can accomplish anything.

Depression is a bad habit. We feel that everything is hopeless and that nothing will ever change. We spend our lives being angry, frustrated and upset believing that nothing will ever get better.

It is important to realize that being depressed is harmful to our health and we need to try hard to make positive changes. Being depressed keeps us stuck in a negative mindset. The good news is we can do something about it. We CAN increase our confidence AND decrease our depression.

Here are some ideas:

Spend time with people who are encouraging and supportive. We tend to think and act like the people we spend the most time with, so the more time you spend with positive people, the more positive you will become. There are many different types of groups that can use your talents and skills. Doing things you enjoy will help build your confidence.

Change your self-talk. Many of us talk to ourselves in a negative way which will just bring us down. Focus on using positive self-talk and stop putting yourself down. Starting each day with a positive statement or affirmation is powerful. “This is going to be a good day.” “I am a good person”. “I like to help people.” “I CAN do this.” “I have good friends.”

Write down all the good things in your life. It may be hard at first but with practice it becomes easier. This will help you create a new habit of positive thinking and increase your confidence. Even if you are experiencing difficulties, you can always find something good if you look hard enough.

Do things for other people. When you are focused on other people, it is hard to feel depressed. Volunteering is a great way to help people and build your confidence.

If you are continually depressed, it is important that you seek medical help. Therapy and medications are often necessary to help you cope and learn how to deal with your own personal issues.

Did you know that you carry a very dangerous weapon with you? Most people don’t even realize that they carry a weapon that is so destructive it can tear apart families, destroy relationships and even cause death.

Our tongue is a huge weapon. It is a very small part of us but it holds the power of life and death. It can be more dangerous than guns or knives and cause a mountain of damage in our lives.

We can choose to use positive words or negative words. Positive words can impart valuable information, be encouraging or bring happiness to others. Negative words can spread lies, discourage and hurt others. Words can also hurt ourselves when we are using negative self-talk and repeating the lies that others have said to us.

There is a reason why we have 1 tongue, 2 eyes and 2 ears. We SHOULD listen more and see more than we speak. Sadly many people lash out at others before they even consider the consequences of their words. Bullying is a good example of how words affect people.

We need to be very careful with our “dangerous weapon” and try to “kill” people with kindness instead of destroying them with our words. Think carefully before you speak. Practice changing any negative thoughts into positive thoughts and create a habit of positive thinking.

We have all played the BLAME GAME but have you ever won? You know, the game where we transfer our faults to someone else so we can avoid responsibility for our own actions. If we can just make someone else look bad or get them to accept fault, it will make us feel better and excuse any bad behaviour on our part. The only problem with this is that it doesn’t solve anything and can actually make things worse.

Why do we play the Blame Game? It isn’t really much fun and people usually get hurt, including ourselves. It is because we lack confidence and we are afraid that if we do something wrong, people won’t like us. If we can point the blame in another direction, we think it makes us look better.

How many of us have said:

You ruined my life

I’m late because of the kids, husband, traffic….

You are the problem in this relationship

I’m overweight because you give me too much food

My boss is holding me back from getting a better position

Your overspending got us into debt

Do you take any responsibility for what happens in your life? Blaming others is a negative action that eventually makes us feel worse and causes a lot of stress for everyone. Nobody is perfect and others can cause problems for us, but many of our problems are the result of our own poor choices and how we respond to others. We need to take responsibility for our part and choose how we respond in difficult situations.

It is the responsibility of every parent to help their children become confident and successful adults. Unfortunately many parents struggle with little or no confidence and are unable to be a positive role model for their children.

Having confidence and strong self-esteem is important to a child, as it will help them become a successful adult. Children learn the concept of success very early in life. Think about when a baby starts to roll over, or walk, or puts those square pegs in the round hole. Children don’t give up easily. They will try something and fail, then try again and fail and keep trying until they are successful. Without even being taught, they have already learned how to fail successfully. When they finally master what they are doing, they feel good about themselves, especially if they receive praise for their efforts. This is when their confidence and esteem start to grow and develop.

If you are struggling as a parent and feel you are not a good role model for your children, you are not alone. Most parents feel this way, including myself. Building my own confidence was the first step in becoming a better parent and this led me to a greater awareness of what is necessary in raising a child. Following are some of the ideas that I found in various books by leading child specialists. These ideas are not just for parents but for anyone who is involved in raising a child such as other family members, friends, teachers, peers, etc. We can ALL influence children in a positive way. Sadly, there are many children today who do not have any positive role models.

Provide your children with a warm, loving, safe environment. Children need to know they are safe and loved. They need hugs and outward signs of affection. They need to know that they are always welcome in their own home no matter what has happened.

Be a positive role model. Children learn by what they see and hear. We need to be careful with our words and actions and try not to criticize or belittle them. We need to be the person we want our child to be. Showing respect for ourselves and the people around us will help them learn to respect themselves and others.

Encourage your children. Encourage your children to try new things and when they have succeeded, give them praise. Help your children to feel proud of what they have accomplished and be patient if they have problems.

Allow your children to make mistakes. Parents often try to help their children avoid making mistakes and only praising them when they succeed. It is important to teach your child that life is not perfect and that they will fail sometimes. When they make mistakes, discuss what lessons they have learned and encourage them to try again.

Communicate and listen. Spend time with your child so you can listen to what they are saying and respond in a positive, non-judgmental and non-critical manner. Acknowledge their feelings and when they are frustrated or upset, don’t dismiss or ignore them or tell them they are being silly. Be open to discuss whatever they want to talk about as it will keep the lines of communication open. Give compliments on how they look. Help them discover their strengths and weaknesses. Be there when they need you.

Involve children in positive activities. Being active will help children keep fit, increase their confidence and they will form good relationships. Get them involved in some type of activity such as sports, music, exercise or an activity group. This will keep them from becoming overly immersed in the media which can result in serious problems. However, don’t get them involved in too much activity as this will just create stress for the entire family. Volunteering is a great positive activity for children. It teaches children the value of helping others and builds esteem.

Discipline with love. Children need to have reasonable boundaries that are enforced. Discuss these with your child and make sure they understand what the consequences of their actions will be. Always be fair, open-minded and loving. When discipline is necessary, separate the child from the action and punish the action, not the child.

Help set realistic goals. Goals give purpose to life for both children and adults. Goals will help your child work towards what they want to achieve and keep them focused.

Teach your children about self-image. Body image often becomes the main focus of a child’s life, which can be harmful and damaging to their esteem. Discuss how society creates an unrealistic image of beauty and help them understand that real beauty is not just how they look. Teach your children to be confident about who they are.

Support your child. Your child is a unique individual and you may not always agree with their choices. Being supportive will help them build confidence and allow them to become independent.

It is certainly a difficult task to be a parent, but when we become a parent we are responsible for the life of another human being. We need to take this seriously and be the best role model we can so our children can grow up to be positive parents themselves. This does NOT mean that we should frustrate ourselves trying to become a perfect person because nobody can be perfect in an imperfect word. We just need to take a look at our life and see what we can do to become a better role model for our children, our grandchildren and everyone else around us.

Start making some positive changes today!! Read some books on positive parenting. If you want something simple and easy to read, I can suggest my book, “Grandma’s Notes on Parenting”. Visit my website at http://www.imconfident.com for order information. Following is a review by Reader’s Favourite.

BOOK REVIEW

Reviewed by Nonnie Jules for Readers’ Favorite

Grandma’s Notes on Parenting by Brenda Silveira is about the difficulty of being a parent for the first time and how unprepared all new parents are for the responsibility of another human being’s future. It will appeal to parents-to-be as well as new parents alike. The book contains a few short chapters on the traits and behaviors needed by every adult who wishes to be a positive role model so their children will learn how to become responsible adults. The author beats herself up a bit but I think it’s her way of showing others where she failed so they don’t make the same mistakes she did. I thought it humanized her.

I really enjoyed reading Grandma’s Notes on Parenting because it was a very well written book about the trials and tribulations this grandma faced while raising her now adult daughters. We all know how loving and wise grandmothers are so, from her point of view, Brenda Silveira details the main traits needed to raise well-rounded, responsible children. She is very candid and honest in pointing out her mistakes as a mother and how, as a grandmother, she is much better equipped to help her daughters parent their children. There was a nice fluid flow to the writing and it made you feel as if you were sitting in Brenda’s living room, while she passed along some much needed advice. This is a good book that I would recommend to all.

Many of us spend our entire lives trying to impress other people. We spend money on things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like or even know. We want to look good so we can be well received by others at work, school or anywhere we go in the community. There is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to do good job and get positive feedback from other people but when we place our value on what other people think, we are never going to feel good about ourselves. Trying to impress others is giving our power to them and will ultimately lead to stress and frustration.

Our value does NOT come from what we have or what we do. Our value comes from who we are! Getting validation or acknowledgment from others is nice but this should never replace how we feel about ourselves. Instead of wasting time and energy trying to impress others, we should be trying to impress ourselves. This means we should just try to be a better person than we were yesterday. Be authentic to yourself and work on improving your character and building confidence. When you accomplish something, give yourself a big pat on the back and tell yourself what a great job you did. Don’t wait for others make you feel valuable – do it yourself! You are worth it!

The media gets blamed for a lot of the problems in the world and rightly so. Every day we are bombarded with images that influence the way we think about ourselves and others. We see images of beautiful people living perfect lives that make us feel like there is something wrong with us. We see ads that tell us we need to buy certain products in order to be accepted and loved. Our confidence takes a hit and we become a person who feels unworthy and inferior to everyone else.

So, who is the media? Who is telling us the lies that we are not good enough, that we don’t measure up and that we have no value? It is not just a screen or an image that we see. The media is comprised of people just like you and me. It is people who are creating these images that have a profound influence on us. We are influenced by everyone and everything that goes on around us. These influences can be positive or they can be negative.

The ads that promote beauty products are most often created by women. It is women that are tearing other women down! Did you ever consider this? The ads they create tell us:

we need to buy their products in order to have friends and be successful (WHY IS OUR FUTURE DEPENDENT ON THEM?)

We need to stop believing what the media tells us. Next time you want to believe something that the media is telling you, stop and consider who is really speaking to you. The media is just a bunch of strangers who don’t know anything about you and don’t really care who you are. All they want is to make you feel bad about yourself so they can line their pockets with your hard-earned money. Don’t believe their lies. We DO have value. We ARE good enough. We DO measure up. We DO NOT need their products to be a productive and successful human being. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. Our value lies in who we are, not in what we look like or what we have.

Many people struggle with low esteem and it affects every area of their lives. It affects how they feel about themselves, it affects the way they interact with other people, it affects the way they communicate. Low esteem is destructive.

It makes people feel inferior, that they are worthless, that they have no value.

It makes them feel that they don’t measure up to other people; that everyone else is smarter, better looking, has more friends, is better off financially.

It makes people feel unloved, unappreciated and unwanted.

It destroys relationships.

It leads to communication breakdowns.

It holds you back from using your abilities and skills.

It stops you from reaching your goals.

It destroys your dreams.

Having low esteem will cause you to struggle through life believing that there is something wrong with you. Often we develop this low opinion of ourselves from living in a negative environment, surrounded by people who struggle themselves with low esteem. Instead of continuing to believe things that are probably not true, we can change the way we feel about ourselves by challenging our beliefs and learning to develop a positive perspective about ourselves and life in general.

We are all valuable, unique individuals despite what others have led us to believe. Do some self-discovery and find our what an awesome person you really are! Visit my website at http://www.imconfident.com for more information on building confidence and self-esteem.

Most people know that if you want a garden to look beautiful, it requires a lot of care. You have to plant good seeds in fertile soil and water them regularly. Once the plants, flowers, shrubs, bushes and trees start growing, you have to provide them with continuous care, pulling any weeds out and pruning back any overgrown branches. It takes work and you can’t neglect caring for the garden or it will soon become overgrown with weeds and lose its beauty. Then it will slowly wither and die.

People are like gardens. If we have had good seeds planted in our lives and have been cared for regularly, we will flourish and grow. As a child, our parents and other people around us start planting seeds that will either make our garden of life beautiful or unattractive. Positive seeds of love, encouragement and support will help us create a beautiful character that will help us achieve success in our lives. Negative seeds of neglect, abuse and despair will help us create an unattractive character that will hold us back from reaching our goals or even having any.

What is growing in your garden? Have positive or negative seeds been planted? Are YOU planting positive or negative seeds?

It doesn’t matter what has been planted in your garden up to this point. If positive seeds have been planted, that is awesome! Keep growing! However, if negative seeds have been planted, don’t despair. YOU can start planting positive seeds in your own life and the lives of others. How?

determine where those negative seeds came from so you are aware of why you think and act the way you do

start changing the way you talk to yourself – stop that negative thinking and replace it with positive thinking

say positive affirmations to yourself every day and learn to appreciate yourself

write down a list of your strengths, abilities and skills

increase the time you spend with positive people and decrease the time you spend with negative people

always look for the good in people and situations instead of the bad

Work hard to create a more positive perspective on life and build your confidence so you can find the happiness and success you are looking for. Visit my website at http://www.imconfident.com for more information.

It’s payday for a lot of people and this means a trip to the bank. Get that cheque cashed and off to spend some money! Of course with direct deposit, telephone and on-line banking, debit and credit cards, many of us never have to step inside a bank. All of this can be very convenient but it makes it very easy to spend money without giving any thought to making a deposit into a savings account and leaving it there to grow.

If we keep taking money out of the bank and never make any deposits, there will soon be nothing left and we can become bankrupt. We can start with a large amount that looks really comforting but it won’t last long if money keeps going out and nothing comes in. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand this concept, yet many people don’t pay any attention to their bank balance until they get into serious financial trouble.

It is the same concept for our personal emotional bank account. Everyday, we deposit emotions into our emotional bank account and this can either fill us up or empty us. If we deposit positive, healthy emotions like love, acceptance, appreciation and kindness it makes us feel secure and confident. When we deposit negative, unhealthy emotions into our bank account, it makes us feel insecure and we have little confidence.

We can have a good day and fill our emotional bank account so full that it overflows on other people and helps fill their emotional bank account. Then the next day we feel miserable and make a huge withdrawal, putting ourselves below empty again.

It is important that we fill ourselves every day with positive emotions, on purpose. Life can be difficult but we can still face the day with a positive attitude and not let all the small things get us down. If we always look for the bad in every situation, we will find it, but we can usually find something good if we look hard enough.

Instead of looking at life with a negative perspective, work hard to develop a positive perspective and make deposits not withdrawals! Then watch your happiness level grow:)

Every day we need to keep depositing healthy emotions in our own emotional bank account and also into the emotional bank account of others so we can help each other feel confident and keep our esteem strong.

Have you made a deposit today? Was it love? What about appreciation? A kind word? A thoughtful deed? Keep making those deposits and watch the benefits grow!